Carnival revelers dressed up as mourners carry a coffin with a sardine as they pretend to cry during the traditional Ash Wednesday Madrid parade in this undated file photo. Reuters
We all come into the world the same way but our departure can vary widely, from lavish coffins to ancient mummies.
Travel website VirtualTourist.com has come up with a list of 8 top burial sites and traditions around the world as recommended by its users.
"As any traveler knows, the most fascinating aspect of experiencing another culture is discovering the ways in which different societies practice the same rituals. Nowhere is this more apparent than in how people around the world pay their respects to the departed," said Giampiero Ambrosi, general manager of VirtualTourist.com.
1. Burial of the Sardine; Spain
Capping off Spain's Carnival celebration, the Burial of the Sardine is one of the world's lighter burial ceremonies. There is crying and drama but also a lot of laughter.
2. Bone House; Hallstatt, Austria
Ever wonder what cemeteries do when they run out of room? In Hallstatt, Austria they dealt with lack of space by removing the skulls of the buried, painting them, and putting them on show.
3. Hanging Coffins; Sagada, Luzon Island, Philippines
The people of Sagada devised a unique burial ritual involving putting dead relatives into a hollowed out log which is taken to caves high in the cliffs. This traditional way of burying people can also be seen in China and Indonesia.
4. Lemo Burial Site; Tana Toraja, Indonesia
Resembling dolls on a shelf, dozens of hand-made figures stand in the carved-out crevices of a local hillside. These fully dressed effigies are said to protect the dead buried behind them.
5. Sky Burial; China's Tibet
For the Tibetan people, a sky burial was common practice where a corpse was cut into small pieces and put out in the open for hovering vultures or other birds of prey in a gesture of charity. The Drigung Monastery was known for sky burials.
6. Sunken Cemetery; Camiguin, Philippines
Wiped out by volcanic activity from Mount Vulcan, the city of Camiguin and its cemetery sits under the sea, with a large cross marking the location of the old capital of the island. It is now a hot spot for divers.
7. Nazca Mummies; Nazca, Peru
Although the sites have been ravaged by thieves, a few of the Nazca mummies can still be seen today in the Altacama desert. Propped up as if welcoming their visitors, they wear their hair long, thought to have once been a significant status symbol.
8. Rock Tombs; Myra, Turkey
This imposing structure looks more like a castle than a graveyard. Close to 2,000 years old, these graves were literally built into the side of the mountains although time and theft have unfortunately left only facades. These rock-cut tombs have been found in other areas with deep ravines and steep cliffs.
(Agencies/China Daily July 14, 2008)